Somewhere out there, is not pleased that 's pathetic subplot got more time than hers, and that's she's only mentioned as being part of the subplot in "Science Pair". Note that the reviewer didn't even bother reviewing the "bonus" eps. Yes, SuperYo, if you can get a code-free (or R1) DVD player, you can watch "It's Karma, Dude" to see sing.

And now, we take apart the review.

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chuckangie:
The new version of the show suffers from a number of problems. One of the foremost self-induced handicaps is when a show tries too hard to “politically correctify” their cast by adding one token member of each ethnic group. They’re trying too hard to please everybody.(...)

If you try to look past the added token ethnic character issue, I’m just not impressed with a show that has roughly a dozen MAIN CHARACTERS. And then add their parents, and you end up with ungainly storylines, trying to equalize everyone’s screen time.(...)

You don't need to be a Rugrats fan to figure that out. And quite frankly I couldn't have said it better myself.

Loved the Fat Albert analogy too.

Prescott: Hmm...That comment of 12 paragraphs had more about KC than the episode itself.

Anyways, even though I think the episode was great I should say that I was expecting more.

Since this is a one hour episode, I'll try to make my observations as short as posible:

The episode seemed to have a good plot because they were going to visit several states, but on the first half of the episode they visit the lame places and on the second half they get to see cool places BUT the adventure is rushed, I could say just 10-15 minutes were things I was expecting.

Talking about the characters, Tommy as the leader was trying to get Susie to New York, since the moms and the RV were on Wisconsin and the gang stuck in New Mexico.

Lil, one of the most developed characters who finally had evoluted to her own independent character was demoted to a background character just kicking the ball to try to break a record nothing more.

Dil was pretty much out of character, when the moms are dancing with the mariachis he was embarrased unlike it's shown on "It's Karma Dude" where he didn't seem to mind, plus making him "mama" kid isn't exaclty why I was expecting from him.

Kimi, finally KC could have given something to her, they introduced a new dog called Pumpkin which could have helped to Kimi to be some kind of animal lover, but what happened? Kimi and Pumpkin didn't really interact that much so there couldn't be a bond with them, Pumpkin just appeared at the end of the episode to DEFEAT a bear, Spike Watannabe!

Phil, just colecting bones and nothing more.

Susie just being Susie the perfect as usual.

Angelica, the star of this special, she was the one which compensated the odd moments of the episode, while she's trying to lock Susie on the bathroom, or telling her how annoying is she being perfect all the time, and at the end she saved the trip.

(... didn't she comment to on how so out-of-character it was for to help her get her moment in the spotlight?)

Chuckie, his plot was mainly the kiss which again was just dumb, in the parade random girl kisses him and that's it, such a big deal for Will Chuckie get his first Kiss? It wasn't even an official first kiss, it was on the cheek.

And some little details like when they start crying on the highway and then suddenly the moms come from nowhere once the moral of the episode is learned.

After all the ranting lol, It's a good episode , worthy to watch.

Every little place the gang visited with their moms ended up being destroyed by Didi, of course she didn't realize it.

The moms embarracing the kids was pretty funny too.

Chuckie's kiss attemps were awesome, one of the funniest moments of the movie.

As I said Angelica was the best in the whole episode, even when she kicked Charlotte instead of Susie.

Dil kept some of his character while he danced with the natives and spoke amish but other than that Out of character.

And Rachel seemed to be nice, although she just showed up for 30 seconds.

And it's finally proven that the rugrats live in California.

The Sneak Peek said a lot of things that didn't happen in the actual episode, like going crazy because of the lack of video games...pfff....they didn't even mention them.

This episode was written by the great Denisse Moss which is good but I guess it would have worked better with a half and an hour movie to not rush the adventure, I liked it, but I still think DWMH? is the best AGU special.

nickelodeon: Wow its the best AGU special ever.Love love loved it.10! It was great and funny especially when didi kept making disasters hapen.She was so funny.

(But let's just say that the biggest disaster she caused... happened to - SB)

SpiderBraids: Lemme nag on some points the DVDtoons reviewer made...

One of the foremost self-induced handicaps is when a show tries too hard to “politically correctify” their cast by adding one token member of each ethnic group.

These were added in the Rugrats days. Not AGU!'s fault.

(Paraphrasing: Those who care about Chuckie's subplot will have to watch it themselves...) (Yep, that’s right. I mean both of you.)

What is he trying to say? That the kiss-quest storyline is predictable, that it's not worth caring for, or that the show isn't that much well-watched?

Speaking of which... the lady here sure looks like Susie... but I'm pretty sure he (and we) would have liked it more on the lips (although Angelica might not )

Angelica is obviously jealous of Susie’s impending success, so naturally tries to upstage her at every opportunity. The most notable of her efforts is the ol’ reliable “lock her in the bathroom stall ploy.”

Also see "It's Karma, Dude!" (Oh wait, it's also on the DVD )

(I couldn’t keep up with who is who’s Mom; she’s the obnoxious overachiever--no, not Angelica’s Mom, the other one)

Betty DeVille, yes?

I’ll even begrudgingly admit that I enjoyed her songs in “R.V. Having Fun Yet?” and “It’s Karma Dude” episodes. I’ll even more begrudgingly admit that I found her performance of the song in the latter episode almost, well, touching.

If he'd just watch "Runaround Susie", he might find Susie's song in that one a bit familar...

Which was a bigger bust: Lil's attempts at that one soccer record, or the whole kiss-quest storyline?

chuckangie:These were added in the Rugrats days. Not AGU!'s fault.

Well said. Theres nothing bad about alot of characters. Just look at Justice League Unlimited.

Rugrats got screwed because it added too many characters too fast. AGU should have been the opportunity for KC to fix the damage they did to Rugrats. But did they take this opportunity to re establish balance? No.

Tommy, Chuckie and Angelica are over developed characters coupled with depth and backstory. Phil, Lil, Dil, Kimi and Susie never got passed the device characters status. It should have been fixed from the start.

What is he trying to say? That the kiss-quest storyline is predictable, that it's not worth caring for, or that the show isn't that much well-watched?

Speaking of which... the lady here sure looks like Susie... but I'm pretty sure he (and we) would have liked it more on the lips (although Angelica might not )

I can only imagine the amount of heat KC took from the fans when Tommy got his first kiss the way he did with Olivia in FoF. In other words, Angelica's not the only one to throw a fit.

I think he was saying the whole thing is stupid. And I agree. KC tried to play it safe. They succeeded. But why do it with such emptiness? If Chuckie NEVER got kissed at all, the result would be the same in terms of damage control. Not to mention it would attempt to break the mold for KC's "plot ending" formulas.

(Well, if KC stuck to the formula for , she'd be the proud owner of a world record. Right, Jonathan?)

"Its better to be impressed than it is to be dissapointed". Cooltoons placed way too much hype on that subplot so it got killed in delivery. Besides, I always though Chuckie was on hold until his braces came off.

If he'd just watch "Runaround Susie", he might find Susie's song in that one a bit familar...

Out of fairness I do like Susie's song in that episode. Though Susie's singging is just a plot devices, it's not beyond redemption. KC's just too cheap to hire profesional song writters to help support their Susie character.

Almost as cheap as not hiring researchers, translators and voice coaching experts to help with Kira and Kimi's Nippongo (accent wise). To the lay man, its okay but for someone that has Japanese background, it makes me go "nandayo kore?" whenever they speak Nippongo.

rugrats1:The Sneak Peek said a lot of things that didn't happen in the actual episode, like going crazy because of the lack of video games...pfff....they didn't even mention them.

Probably taking after "The Simpsons", whose promos on Fox sometimes contain footage that don't make the final cut.

(Remembers fuss over astronaut Maggie sucking on "pacifier" being seen in a preview, and ending up being completely absent from the ep.)

Though Susie's singging is just a plot devices, it's not beyond redemption. KC's just too cheap to hire profesional song writters to help support their Susie character.

Almost as cheap as not hiring researchers, translators and voice coaching experts to help with Kira and Kimi's Nippongo (accent wise).

What do you expect? They're Nickelodeon, where they seek to make the maximum profit on as little money as possible. K-C tries their best, but Nick doesn't pay them enough to increase Susie's playlist or have Kimi and Kira talk in a more authentic Japanese accent.

(At least they do (or used to do) racially correct casting. Kath Soucie as a young Asian American boy in Juniper Lee, anyone?)

chuckangie:What do you expect? They're Nickelodeon, where they seek to make the maximum profit on as little money as possible. K-C tries their best, but Nick doesn't pay them enough to increase Susie's playlist or have Kimi and Kira talk in a more authentic Japanese accent.

Yeah. Back in the old days, all it took was originality and creativity. Nowadays it doesn't pay to be just original and creative. Cartoons have to go through somekind of rigid marketing test to verify wether its profitable or not before it gets a go.

Ah but thats life.

SSJ_Jup81: I liked the ep fine. Thought it was cute, then again, I don't have very high expectations with the show like some of you guys seem to. ^^

Though Susie's singging is just a plot devices, it's not beyond redemption. KC's just too cheap to hire profesional song writters to help support their Susie character.

Almost as cheap as not hiring researchers, translators and voice coaching experts to help with Kira and Kimi's Nippongo (accent wise).

What do you expect? They're Nickelodeon, where they seek to make the maximum profit on as little money as possible. K-C tries their best, but Nick doesn't pay them enough to increase Susie's playlist or have Kimi and Kira talk in a more authentic Japanese accent.

You know, for Kira, yeah, I do agree, but not Kimi. Kimi grew up in America. It wouldn't be surprising for her to not have an accent since she was here as a baby.

I just think of myself. My parents moved back to Virginia from New York when I was about two years old. I, apparently, had a strong northern accent, but, if you heard me now, you'd never guess it. I sound like a country bumpkin since I grew up here the majority of my life. I lost my accent.

Kimi was growing up in the states before she even technically learned how to talk.